Just opened the brakemaster, and seems like I may have found the problem.... Or problems.... Seems to be all my fault, not looking good enough at Roy's manual.

First, it seems like I have managed to insert the inner(rear) piston the wrong way, which would make it impossible to build pressure, since the valve inside would then let air back through.

Secondly, the springs were swapped. Perhaps this didn't do anything, but it's nice to have them correctly.

And thirdly, also not sure, but there was a possibilty that the piston was not inserted deeply enough for the pin to lock it, could have been inserted to it locked the piston from moving, which wouldn't help on getting any pressure in the curcuit.

Alll these have now been fixed, so will try to reassemble later today, and bleed the system. Hopefully that will fix it now.

Okay, after a rather eventfull summer, lost girlfriend but got new job , I have looked a little at my dear old Goldie.

Figured it was time to do something about the "not running smoothly" thing.When I brought her, she was barely limping, had to hav almost full choke.Tracked the first problem to be the breatherhose from the enginecover. It wasn't loose, it was completly open!After fitting now hoses, she got better, but was still sounding like an astmathic grandmother. Needed a lot less choke, but cut the choke and she would spit like hell and die out.Like many, I have suspected a little airleak somewhere, so i went round and have replaced all(I think) vacuumhoses with new ones. still showe improvment, but not there yet.

So, yesterday I had an idea. there are ywo vacuum ports on the intakemanifold, since I didn't have anything to plug them with, I just shorted them with a piece of vacuumtube, and fired the old gal.

Tried her a little slowly up the street, and there seems to still be something "funny" going on...although no choke was needed, she still switched between reving normally and spitting like hell when I hit the accelerator....

Good to hear you're still keeping your spirits high... The two vacuum hoses you disconnected go to the headlight vacuum system, which is notorious for giving problems, and to the brake vacuum booster, which could also be leaking. The stiff pipe connecting the booster and engine could also crack. It's a good idea to disconnect them since that allows you to test for other problems.

I suggest your next step is to renew the manifold gasket: It could very well be leaking. The most difficult thing about the job is to get access to the nuts on the bottom side of the manifold, but it's not that bad if you take it easy.

I remember you had the carb off to clean it: Did you check for any spindle play? Carburettor spindles are a common source of vacuum leaks. It's normally the main spindle that leaks since that does most of the movement and if there's a lot of play, it is possible to take the spindle out and grease it well with silicone grease which resists petrol to some degree. That should get you going for a while.

Good to hear you're still keeping your spirits high... The two vacuum hoses you disconnected go to the headlight vacuum system, which is notorious for giving problems, and to the brake vacuum booster, which could also be leaking. The stiff pipe connecting the booster and engine could also crack. It's a good idea to disconnect them since that allows you to test for other problems.

I suggest your next step is to renew the manifold gasket: It could very well be leaking. The most difficult thing about the job is to get access to the nuts on the bottom side of the manifold, but it's not that bad if you take it easy.

I remember you had the carb off to clean it: Did you check for any spindle play? Carburettor spindles are a common source of vacuum leaks. It's normally the main spindle that leaks since that does most of the movement and if there's a lot of play, it is possible to take the spindle out and grease it well with silicone grease which resists petrol to some degree. That should get you going for a while.

/Anders

I see your point Anders, but surely the main reason has got to be somewhere in the vacuum system, since with it bypassed it idled perfectly. Come to think of it, it probably has unleaded 95 without lead substitute additive... Could that be the reason...?

Getting the car to idle is usually not a problem despite vacuum leaks: It's just a question of giving the idle screw a turn or two more outwards. But you are probably finding that idle isn't completely stable.

You really have to be systematic here: You have found and temporarily fixed a vacuum leaks. There are likely to be at leat one more, so I'd go and look for it

There is a good method to find vacume leaks.Start the engine and adjust idle that it stays running.Use a spray-gun (could be a old glass-clean bottle) with water.Spray at inlet-manifold an other suspected points.If the engine react on the spray you found a leak.

I was playing around some more with the car today(not much time between rainshowers and a nasty seperation here now....), trying to track further down what could be the leak. It was ideling very good, choughed a little if I gave it to much throttle at once, whereas a bit moderat acceleration gave no problem. Suddenly when it coughed, I noticed my habd was hit by some gasoline(Yes I was in the back revingit by hand) From what I can tell, this shouldn't happen, and would indicate some gasket around there gone bad....

This is a view in that direction(snatched from Anders D.)The top gasket between the plastiv neck and carb, seem fine, but dry.The gasket between the two halfes is a bit harder to tell, but I wouldn't think there could be any pressure bolwing out this way...The two at the spacer also seemed fine but try.

Could some/any of these gaskets be made from materials brought wholesale, or are there very spesific materials where they are?And if so, would anybody happen to have those two at the spacer laying around left over....?

If petrol sprays out of the carburettor when you operate the throttle levers, it must be coming from the acceleration pump. This could explain the behaviour you're seeing as without the acceleration pump, the engine will not take throttle.

The acceleration pump is the only part of the system where there is any kind of fuel pressure involved - otherwhise, a carburettor works by suction only. And my first thought is: Did you fit a correct o-ring in the stud that connects the top and bottom parts of the carburettor?

The o-ring that comes with the gasket kit is too large; fitting it results in this:

so, next will be to get a correct size O-ring. How about the gaskets? I seem to have a reapirset for the carb from Simon, but this does not have the gaskets between the manifold/spacer and not between the airpipe-bend. Can these be made from the paper or fibercloth "gasket-raw-material" availible at Biltema....?

Don't worry about the two gaskets on the bottom and the one on the top of the carb, as unless they are obviously blown or cracked, they will be ok.The new main gasket (inside the carb) will need to have the hole to the spigot extended a bit.